Final movie bittersweet for local 'Harry Potter' fans

LISA KAPPS

Sunday

Jul 24, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 24, 2011 at 11:28 AM

From the moment Albus Dumbledore used his deluminator to dim the streetlights in the opening pages of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” readers fell deeply in love with J.K. Rowling’s magical world of wizards, witchcraft and, of course, The Boy Who Lived.

From the moment Albus Dumbledore used his deluminator to dim the streetlights in the opening pages of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” readers fell deeply in love with J.K. Rowling’s magical world of wizards, witchcraft and, of course, The Boy Who Lived.

That love affair – and fan base – only grew as six more books and seven movies were released between 1998 and 2010, painting an ever more detailed picture of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the world inhabited by Harry, his best friends Ron and Hermione, and his nemesis, Voldemort.

But now, after more than a decade, the series is coming to an end.

Local Potter fans said the wide release of the final film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,” today will be met with a mix of anticipation, excitement and sadness.

‘A special memory’

After an initial hesitation – science-fiction and fantasy were never her genre, she said – children’s librarian and mother of ­two Crystal Barringer fell in love with Harry on the first page.

In addition to sharing the books with the children she works with, the books were a link between Barringer and her children.

Barringer waited to share the books with her two daughters, Abby, now 10, and Sydney, now 9, until Abby was in fourth grade.

“From the first chapter – from the first word – they were hooked,” she said.

When Barringer and her daughters finished one of the Harry Potter books together, they would watch the corresponding movie.

Overall, she said, they found the movies to be a great companion to the books, another way to relive their favorite tales and enter the magical world they love so much. The family also visited The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Fla.

“We love the actors. We love the adventure,” she said.

Barringer and her daughters also expected to be among the first to see the final film at a midnight showing Thursday.

“We’ve never been to the midnight showing before. They’re young,” Barringer said earlier this week. “It will be a special memory and a good way to end.”

‘It’s really about love’

Crystal Faria’s initiation into the Potterverse was very different than Barringer’s.

Faria, now 40 years old, was a recent college graduate substitute teaching for a third-grade class in 1999. She’d been left instructions to read aloud for 20 minutes out of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

“Of course the children were very excited,” she said. “They were already captured by the magic of Harry.”

But as Faria stumbled over the unfamiliar words and names – like Hermione, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall – she felt “aggravated and idiotic.”

She swore off Harry Potter. Until, that is, her children fell under Harry’s magic spell.

She watched the films, but didn’t read the books until after the final book was released.

After finishing the series, her son begged her to read the books. And she did.

She started with the first on Wednesday and finished the series on the next Tuesday.

“I just devoured them,” she said. “I didn’t do anything but read Harry Potter until I was done with them. … I fell in love.”

While the books may center on a school for magic and a boy who can cast spells, Faria said that’s not really what the books are about.

“It’s not about wands or cauldrons or magic in the form of spells,” Faria said. “It’s really about love and that love is the most powerful magic there is.”

While Barringer and her daughters planned to see the film at the first possible opportunity, Faria has a long wait ahead of her.

“I have never seen any of the movies in the theater,” she said. “I probably will not see this final installment in the theater unless one of them (my children) absolutely forces me and drags me.”

Faria said she plans to re-read “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and watch the last film as soon as it comes out on Blu-Ray.

‘Harry forever’

When “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released in July of 2009, fans still had three installments of Potter movies to look forward to.

So what are Potter fans’ plans now that the series has made its final turn?

“When the last book ended for us, it was really kind of hard,” Barringer said. “It was a little bit sad. My kids have never found anything that they think compares.”

But, they are still readers. Her older daughter is reading a series for children by John Grisham and her youngest has also found a new series to enjoy. They have read books in the Percy Jackson series – which follows a young boy who discovers he’s the son of the Greek god Poseidon – which they compared and contrasted with Harry Potter. And, like the Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson has been on the movie screen.

Faria, too, has found new series to enjoy – the Hunger Games Trilogy, the Game of Thrones series.

But, she said, nothing compares to the Harry Potter books.

“Harry forever,” she emphasized.

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